Bradford, Susquehanna lead in Shale air pollution

Bradford and Susquehanna counties led the state in the volume of air pollution released by companies producing and processing gas from the Marcellus Shale in 2011, according to data published this week by the Department of Environmental Protection.

The Northern Tier counties ranked first and second in nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides and total shale-related air pollution tallied in the first-ever statewide inventory of the industry's emissions. They ranked second and third after Washington County for emissions of volatile organic compounds.

Total air pollution was down significantly in the state for the period between 2008 and 2011 and reduced emissions from power plants and other industrial sources more than outweighed the addition of new pollution related to the shale gas drilling boom, according to the state data.

The DEP said regulations requiring pollution controls and the increased use of natural gas instead of coal to generate electricity spurred the decline in statewide air pollution, especially a 500,000-ton cut in annual sulfur dioxide emissions, which translates to between $14 billion and $37 billion in annual public health benefits.

The state is required to compile the emissions inventory every three years and submit it to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Marcellus Shale-related emissions from wells and compressor stations were added to the inventory for the first time in 2011 and will now be submitted to the state annually.

"The data show that emissions from drilling represent a small fraction of air pollution in the state," DEP Secretary Michael Krancer said Tuesday.

The data also show that Marcellus Shale operations are now significant emitters in rural counties with few other so-called point sources of air pollution.

The 2,600 tons of shale-related nitrogen oxides emitted in Bradford County in 2011 dwarfed the 235 tons of NOx pollution emitted from all other facilities in the county that year, according to DEP data. And without the 2,440 tons of shale-related NOx emissions in Susquehanna County, DEP's facility emissions report for the county includes just one source: a compressor station on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline that emitted 17 tons of NOx in 2011.

The combined shale-related nitrogen oxide emissions in Bradford and Susquehanna counties - 5,000 tons - are nearly a third of the statewide shale-related NOx of 16,500 tons. Both together and separately, they surpass the single-largest industrial source of NOx pollution in the 11-county northeast region, GenOn Energy's Portland Generation Station, a coal-fired power plant in Northampton County that emitted 2,000 tons of NOx in 2011, according to DEP facility reports.

Aimee Curtright, Ph.D., a researcher in the RAND Corp.'s Pittsburgh office, helped author a recent study of Marcellus Shale-related air quality impacts in the state that also found that gas drilling emissions are a small percentage of the statewide total and overall emissions are declining.

"Not everyone benefits equally from that," she said. "In these more remote places where the activity is happening, the air tends to be relatively clean, so you're adding pollution where there really wasn't any before."

Allen L. Robinson, Ph.D., a professor in Carnegie Mellon University's mechanical engineering department who is researching Marcellus Shale-wide air emissions, said drilling-related pollution is significant in aggregate and in rural pockets without established air pollution sources.

"For rural counties that don't have a few big coal-fired power plants, this is going to be the big source" of some pollutants, he said.

"The question is what the impact is on air quality and I don't think that's been totally resolved."

Short-term DEP monitoring at shale sites throughout the state in 2010 did not find any compounds at levels that would trigger air-related health issues or exceed federal ambient air quality limits, DEP spokesman Kevin Sunday said. The state is also conducting a long-term air monitoring study in Washington County and is adding stationary or movable monitoring devices in Bradford, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties to evaluate any shale-related changes.

llegere@timesshamrock.com

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